Maghrib Relations

Although some analysts classify Libya as part of the Maghrib, only
the province of Tripolitania shares a common history and culture with
other Maghribi countries. The lack of a Maghribi heritage, together with
the revolutionary government's predilection for Mashriq affairs, has
caused the Maghribi area to be of secondary interest to Libya since
1969. In 1970 Libya withdrew from the Permanent Maghrib Consultative
Committee, an organization founded by the Maghribi states to foster the
eventual development of an economic community. Nonetheless, Libya
pursued an active foreign policy toward the Maghrib, a policy that
usually revolved around the issues of Arab unity and the Western Sahara
dispute.

During a December 1972 visit to Tunisia, Qadhafi publicly called for
its merger with Libya. Tunisian President Habib Bourguiba rejected the
idea and chided Qadhafi for his youthful naiveté. In January 1974, only
a few months after the failure of the Libyan-Egyptian merger, Qadhafi
pursued a new unification plan during a meeting with Bourguiba at Jerba.
Bourguiba first accepted the proposed Arab Islamic Republic, but then
reversed his decision. He later stated that he had agreed only to the
concept of eventual Maghribi unification, not to any specific bilateral
union at the time. Relations subsequently deteriorated and became more
strained in 1975, when Tunisia supported the partition of the Western
Sahara territory by Morocco and Mauritania.

In March 1976, Libya began expelling several thousand Tunisian
workers. Later the same month, Tunisian authorities announced the
discovery of a plot aimed at high government officials (perhaps even
Bourguiba) and alleged that Libya was involved, despite Qadhafi's
denials. Tunisia later accused Libya of providing military training to
opponents of the Bourguiba regime. Now and then, Tunisia (as well as
other neighboring countries) has protested against alleged Libyan
subversion attempts. In 1976, for instance, Tunisia charged Libya with
attempting to assassinate Prime Minister Hadi Nouira. And in February
1980, Libya was accused of instigating the abortive uprising by Tunisian
insurgents in the town of Gafsa in central Tunisia, a charge that Libya
promptly denied. Nevertheless, diplomatic relations between the two
countries were severed.

As Tunisia's economic and political difficulties grew in the 1980s,
dissent became more vocal, particularly in the poorer southern region,
paving the way for increasing the links between the Jamahiriya and the
Tunisian dissidents. Two issues caused problems for the Libyan-Tunisian
relationship. The first, concerning maritime boundaries between the two
North African countries, was settled by an International Court of
Justice ruling in favor of Libya in 1982. The Court reaffirmed its
ruling in 1985, at which time it rejected Tunisia's appeal for
reconsideration. The second problem resulted from the expulsion from
Libya in August 1985, of 40,000 Tunisian workers, partly as a result of
the downturn in the Libyan economy as a result of shrinking oil
revenues. The expulsions were also partially based on political
considerations because Qadhafi has considered expulsions a political
weapon with which to threaten uncooperative governments. In retaliation,
Tunisia expelled 300 Libyans, including 30 diplomats.

In the early months of 1987, there were signs of improvement in
Libyan-Tunisian relations. In March, Major Khuwayldi al Hamadi spent
three days in Tunisia as official guest of the government and met with
President Habib Bourguiba, Prime Minister Rachid Sjar, and other
high-ranking officials.

Libya's closest Maghribi bilateral relationship has been with
neighboring Algeria. Both countries share similar revolutionary Arab
ideologies, state-controlled economic systems, and Organization of
Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) oil policies, and both have
undertaken Third World leadership initiatives. Furthermore, both
countries have comparable relations with the United States and the
Soviet Union. Algeria has concentrated on internal development, however,
whereas Libya has pursued internal development and external activities
almost equally. The two countries' bilateral ties were strained by
Libya's 1974 attempt to merge with Tunisia, Algeria preferring to have
its borders shared by relatively weak states rather than by states that
have been strengthened and enlarged through unification.

Although Libya and Algeria have been allies on the Western Sahara
issue, differences in their positions became increasingly pronounced in
late 1978. Both countries originally had pressed for Spanish evacuation
from the area and supported the local independence group, the Popular
Front for the Liberation of the Saguia el Hamra and Rio de Oro (Frente
Popular por la Liberacion de Saguia el Hamra y Rio de Oro--Polisario)
toward this end. Algeria wanted the area to become an independent state.
Libya felt Arab unity would be better served if the area merged with a
larger state, preferably Mauritania, with which it had close relations
at the time (Libya had been the first country to recognize independent
Mauritania; Mauritania was the first country to recognize Libya's
revolutionary regime.) Libya opposed the forceful repression of Western
Saharan nationalism, however, and when Morocco and Mauritania decided to
partition the area by force (Morocco obtaining the larger share), Libya
joined Algeria in supporting Polisario's struggle against the two
partitioning countries. Together with Algeria and thirty-six other
countries, Libya has recognized the Saharan Arab Democratic Republic
(SADR), formed in Algeria in 1976. Libya also supported the SADR's bid
for membership in the Organization of African Unity (OAU), along with
twenty-five other African states.

Libyan-Moroccan relations have, on the whole, been unfriendly. A wide
gulf separates moderate, monarchist, pro-Western Morocco from the
revolutionary, pro-Soviet Jamahariya. Rabat has often protested
Tripoli's attempts at subversion, for example, during the 1971 military
coup attempt. Morocco's foreign policy goals have usually been at odds
with those of Libya. Qadhafi, for instance, denounced Moroccan
assistance to the government of Zaire when rebels staged an invasion
from neighboring Angola. In an abrupt about-face, however, Morocco
signed the Oujda treaty in August 1984, which called for unity with
Libya.

For Morocco's King Hassan II, the union restored the regional
Maghribi balance of power, which had tilted in favor of Algeria,
Morocco's main rival and the primary supporter of the Polisario. Algeria
consistently supported the right of Western Saharan to
self-determination in the SADR. The SADR was proclaimed on February 27,
1976, one day after the Spanish withdrawal. King Hassan put forward his
country's claims over the former Spanish-ruled territory, led 350,000 of
his citizens in 1975 on a peaceful "Green March" to key areas
in the Saharan territory, and subsequently occupied the former Spanish
colony.

In view of their sharp ideological differences, the accord between
Qadhafi and King Hassan was evidently the result of expediency. The king
expected to persuade the Libyan leader to cease supporting the Polisario
and wanted access to Libyan oil. For his part, Qadhafi regarded Morocco
as a source of human resources and support. Apparently, Qadhafi stopped
his support of the Polisario, albeit only temporarily.